Monthly Archive for April, 2011

Daughters and sons of employees spend a day at Tri-State

Published on April 29, 2011 in General and Public Outreach. 0 Comments Tags: .

The 19th annual Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work day took place April 28 this year and Tri-State welcomed kids of all ages to join their parents at work and learn more about careers in the electric utility industry.

Young people were seen in many of Tri-State’s departments, from IT to communications to office services.  In the transmission systems operations area, kids watched informative videos about Tri-State and careers in the rural electric industry.  They also enjoyed lunch and worked at sorting out map board tiles for a project that will expand the department’s map board.

“Wow, I really learned a lot,” said 10-year-old Sebastion Brookman, son of Sherri Brookman.  Keith Carman’s 11-year-old daughter Amanda said “I got to go to a real meeting where everyone introduced themselves and we had to take notes and everything!”

Designed to be more than a career day, the Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work program strives to take kids to beyond the average practice of “shadowing” an adult to illustrate the value of education, help provide an opportunity to share their vision of the future and allow them to take steps toward their end career goals in a hands-on and interactive environment that is key to achieving success.

Line crews work together to restore power in central New Mexico

Published on April 29, 2011 in General and Transmission. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Tri-State line crews played an integral role in restoring power to nearly 4,000 homes this past weekend for members of Central New Mexico Cooperative in Edgewood, N.M., after several of member distribution cooperative’s transmission poles were blown down by gusty winds.

In an area where high winds are not the norm, the crews were faced with an unusual situation when the gusts snapped in half eight poles along the Moriarty-to-Edgewood 69-kilovolt line.

Tri-Staters worked alongside crews from Central New Mexico Electric to remove damaged poles, clean up the area and install replacement poles.

Delta-Montrose Electric showcases solar lease-a-panel program

Published on April 28, 2011 in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, Public Meetings and Renewable Energy. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

What better way to celebrate Earth Day than showing off a successful solar story?

That’s what Tri-State member system Delta-Montrose Electric Association did April 22 during an open house at its headquarters, where it announced that in two months it had fully leased 20,000 kilowatts of capacity, worth $75,000, in two community solar arrays.

The program, launched by the Montrose, Colo., co-op in mid-February, allows member-consumers to lease, at a small cost, a piece of the installations in exchange for a credit on their electric bills. Residents and businesses snapped up the leases, paying $3.75 per kilowatt.

G&T’s EEC program helps light Wiggins, Colo.

Published on April 27, 2011 in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, General and Public Outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

With the help of financial incentives from Tri-State’s Energy Efficiency Credits program, member system Morgan County Rural Electric Association (Fort Morgan, Colo.) has brightened the streets of Wiggins, Colo., with a community service project that upgraded 57 of the town’s mercury vapor street lights to high efficiency, low maintenance LED lights.

The installation, completed by Morgan County personnel last month, was done at no cost to the small farming community of 1,000 people and serves as an opportunity for the co-op to “showcase new electric technologies to our consumers,” said Dave Henderson, director of external affairs for the electric co-op.

Last year, with the support of Tri-State’s EEC program, Morgan County REA was one of the first co-ops in the region to promote and demonstrate a heat pump electric water heater installed in one of the homes of its consumers. “We are now talking to one of our local dairy operators for the possible installation of another commercial LED lighting project on our system,” added Henderson.

Southern Colorado Transmission reps speak to community

Published on April 26, 2011 in General, Public Outreach and Transmission. 0 Comments Tags: , .

On April 19 and 20, representatives from Tri-State and Xcel Energy were in southern Colorado to speak to community members on various aspects of the Southern Colorado Transmission Improvements project.

Requested to speak at a series of meetings sponsored by the Transmission Line Coalition, the utilities focused on the following areas:

-Reliability and Redundancy

-Renewable Energy and Export Capacity

-Project Cost and Benefits to Ratepayers

-Economic Impacts

The Transmission Coalition has been a critic of the project and the forum allowed both utilities to not only address questions from residents of the San Luis Valley and Huerfano County, but also touch directly on the areas expressed as concerns by the Coalition.  In addition to members of the Coalition in attendance, a vast number of project supporters also attended including county commissioners, local business leaders, farmers and ranchers.

The presentations come directly on the heels of a major milestone decision by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to grant the utilities a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN), which is needed for the project to move forward and states there is a compelling purpose and need for the project in the southern part of the state.

The utilities also gave an update on the environmental process required by Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and gave indication that the public scoping meetings will hopefully resume later this year.

For a more detailed recap of the meeting, read coverage of the meeting from the Alamosa Courier.

Rural Utilities Services administrator delivers $43.2 million check to Poudre Valley REA

Published on April 25, 2011 in General and Transmission. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The Colorado Rural Electric Association publishes a weekly e-newsletter featuring news about Colorado electric cooperatives and recent legislative action. The following article, written by Mona Neely, appeared in their April 22 issue.  Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association is one of Tri-State’s 44 member cooperatives.

There was a celebration at Poudre Valley REA’s Windsor headquarters Wednesday, April 20, when Rural Utilities Services (RUS) Administrator Jonathan Adelstein stopped by with a “check” for $43.2 million.

Approved last fall, the RUS loan will finance a four-year construction plan that includes 54 miles of new line construction, 186 miles of line improvements, substations, automatic meter infrastructure and more. Adelstein and representatives from the local offices of Colorado’s U.S. senators and from the office of Congressman Cory Gardner were excited about the AMI or smart meter improvements that the loan will facilitate.

The presentation gave PVREA General Manager Brad Gaskill a chance to remind Adelstein, Colorado State USDA Director Jim Isgar, and the representatives of Colorado’s congressional delegation of the importance of RUS financing for electric co-ops.

Video showcases 59th annual meeting

Published on April 20, 2011 in General and Public Meetings. 0 Comments Tags: .

More than 400 electric cooperative representatives and industry officials attended Tri-State’s 59th annual meeting at the association’s Westminster headquarters earlier this month, where they reviewed recent activities, accomplishments and board goals, as well as addressed the current issues and challenges facing the electric utility industry.

Attendees also visited information centers, which showcased the latest electric technologies and materials featured in Tri-State’s consumer awareness campaign focusing on the importance of affordable electricity.

Pine beetle infestation whittling down western forests

Published on April 13, 2011 in General, Public Outreach and Transmission. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

It isn’t a pretty sight. Since the late 1990s, throughout the Rocky Mountain West, majestic high country vistas that were recently carpeted with green forests have been rapidly transformed into millions of acres of red rust and yellow-tinged dead and dying pine trees over a massive region that extends from New Mexico to British Columbia.

The culprit is a tenacious little native pest known as the mountain pine beetle that measures no larger than a pencil eraser.  But, despite its diminutive size, this insect has proven to be nearly unstoppable in its ability to chew through vast tracts of mature lodgepole, ponderosa, Scotch and limber pine trees.

Tri-State operated power plants provide a nearly $600 million value annually to towns, counties

Published on April 11, 2011 in General and Public Outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Powering more than homes and businesses

Escalante Station, Prewitt, NM

In addition to keeping the lights on for its 44 member systems serving 1.5 million member-consumers, Tri-State continues to support economic growth in Colorado’s Western Slope and northern New Mexico through the operation of three major coal-fired power plants: Craig Station, Nucla Station and Escalante Generating Station.
The economic and fiscal impacts of its generating stations and affiliated mines were the subject of a recent study conducted by Development Research Partners on behalf of Tri-State. The study focused on the direct and indirect impacts of the previously mentioned power plants related to the gross output of the regions, which envelop three communities and eight counties.
Combined, the facilities provide $594 million annually in direct and indirect value to the communities and counties in which they are located.  Additionally, more than 1,240 individuals are employed (directly and indirectly) by the facilities.

Membership gathers for 59th Annual Meeting

Published on April 8, 2011 in General and Public Meetings. 0 Comments Tags: .

More than 400 electric cooperative representatives and industry officials attended Tri-State’s 59th annual meeting April 6-7 at the power supplier’s Westminster, Colo., headquarters, where they reviewed recent activities and addressed numerous issues and challenges facing the electric utility industry.

Following the meeting, the association’s board of directors was seated for the upcoming year, including its six officers and three at-large positions that make up the board’s Executive Committee.  Under the cooperative business model, each of Tri-State’s 44 member distribution systems is represented on its board, which is the democratically-elected governing body of the association.

Rick Gordon, Chairman of the Board

Rick Gordon, representing Tri-State member co-op Mountain View Electric Association (Limon, Colo.), was re-elected chairman for a second consecutive term.  Gordon originally joined Tri-State’s board in 1994 and served as vice chairman for 13 years prior to first being elected chairman last year.  He has served on his MVEA’s board since 1992. Continue reading ‘Membership gathers for 59th Annual Meeting’